constant in her life. we want her to feel protected, loved, everything that i know her mom would have given her. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i am andrea canning. thank you for watching. thank you for watching ♪♪ this sunday, future of the party. >> if i win and somebody wants to run against me i call my attorney general. i say, listen, indict him! >> the republican party is at a crossroads. will we be the party of conservatism or will we follow the siren song of populism unmourned to conservative principles. siren song of the donald trump return to power or find a new path forward. i'll talk to bill cassidy from louisiana one of the seven republicans who voted to convict donald trump.

plus backing biden. my wide-ranging interview with democratic governor gavin newsom. >> why do you think 24% want to see? >> the polls mean nothing until we gut get out there and make our case. >> his thoughts on his party, the 2024 election and his own presidential ambition. >> i think we need to move past this notion that he's not going to run. president biden is going to run. time to move on. let's go. >> and gerontocracy, america's aging leaders refuse to exit the stage. >> i will finish my senate term. >> i made my decision in terms of winning. >> why are octogenarians ignoring the calls from voters who believe they are too old to serve. joining me, senior political editor mark murray. amy walter, editor in chief executive of the cooke political report. cornell belcher and danielle pletka of the american

enterprise institute. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." ♪♪ >> announcer: from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history, this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. good sunday morning. >> as you may have heard, after nine years and more than 435 casts, today is my final sunday in the moderator chair. to say that this has been the honor and privilege of my life time is an understatement. this is simply the pinnacle of political journalism and something my younger self never imagined. no matter how much of a grind the current political climate is, wearing me down on any given day, i still always have had a pinch me, i can't believe it feeling every time i hear my name introduced as the moderator of the longest-running show in television. in fact, i used to joke my goal is not to be the last moderator of the longest running show in

american history, and i've achieve that goal and then some. i look forward to passing the baton in about 57, 58 minutes. in the meantime we put together a terrific program with the focus on the future of the political parties, and the guests we have today, california governor gavin newsom and bill cassidy are the two i specifically wanted because i think these two healthy officials have a healthy respect for you, the viewers and the voters. they aren't afraid of answering any question on any platform on any network, by any person. they accept the premise of a healthy democracy which is that elected officials take a stand and then come on shows where they get questioned for their rationale and defend it. i'm a skeptic by nature which also makes me inquisitive by nature, and it is in that spirit that i think "meet the press" is the standard bearer that asks the relevant questions that you ask. as i prepare to sign off, it's interesting both parties find themselves at a crossroads.

both parties want to look toward the future and they're stuck in the present and the voters are exhausted by it. for the republicans the issue is trump and trumpism and does it belong in the past? in a rally in south dakota trump made it clear he does not intend to leave it there. >> if i win and somebody wants to run against me, kale my attorney general and say, listen, indict him! well, he has unit done anything. well, i don't know. indict him on tax ee vision. we'll figure it out. >> the republicans cannot let this go on. >> for the democrats the issue is peden's age.

the party should nominate a different candidate than joe biden and it was the big of the concern among 49% of all democrats. the biggest concern was biden's age. overall just 28% of americans say biden inspires confidence. that's down 24 points from two years ago when he was just four months into his presidency. this week the biden campaign released an ad highlighting his surprise visit to ukraine in february. a not so subtle argument that he is physically up to the job. >> a nearly 40-hour journey in and out of ukraine. president biden left washington, dc, at 4:00 a.m. on sunday, he landed in eastern cologne, and took a nine and a half-hour train to kyiv. >> in the middle of a war zone, joe biden showed what america is made of. that's the quiet strength of a true leader. >> joining me now is bill cassidy of louisiana. welcome back to "meet the press." >> thank you for the honor of being on your last show. >> i want to start with some of the news of the week even on friday with the announcement by the former speaker of the house that she's going to seek re-election and she's in her 80s. i want to start with a quote you gave a couple of years ago on this issue to axios. here's the exchange.

>> the speaker of the house is 81. wisdom comes with age, but the science is also clear that we aren't who we were. that we do lose things with age. as a medical professional, is that something we should be thinking about? >> of course. at some point and statistically it's in the 80s you begin a more rapid decline. it's usually noticeable. so anybody in a position of responsibility who may potentially be on that slope, that is of concern and i'm saying this as a doctor. >> i also want to clarify you were not judging any specific person there. you were making a generalization. what's interesting there, this is before we were debating mitch mcconnell and debating joe biden. does that still hold for you? >> absolutely. i think mitch mcconnell handled it perfectly. his doctors didn't just release the test, but the results of the test and it allows people to move beyond the number of how old is the person and the

science, the medical science and how to evaluate, and i think that should be the standard that folks are held to, and i think he's responded. >> you feel like you've got enough information on senator mcconnell? you do? you feel like you're getting an honest assessment here? >> i do. the doctor is not lying. he's saying these are the tests that we've done and these are the results that we have. by the way, i have the advantage of seeing not just the clip of him 20 seconds and the clip of him before and there after. >> what do you make of senator rand paul's questioning of the doctor? >> i always say i'm gerontologist and you have to accept the limitations of training. >> why do you think -- how do you think we should address this? the voters clearly have said one thing, and you have this -- look, i mean, i get it. it is always hard to let go at the very end. trust me.

i'm aware of this myself. but what do you think is the driver here? >> shouldn't there be transparency? shouldn't president biden release a full neurological evaluation to his cognitive ability and whomever else? you picked a person -- >> you want mitch mcconnell to do this? you want joe biden to do this? you want all of them to do this? >> do what mitch just did, total transparency. >> in fairness, the letter from the doctor, we don't know. we just know what this one doctor says. >> at some point you have to say, he said he had an eeg, an mri, and that or this and they're all normal. you may decide the doctor is lying, but at some point you have to have faith in somebody and somebody out of politics, giving you honest and giving you results of the test is a good start. >> it's one thing that the voters should demand this. is it something that should be the constitution? >> i don't know if it should be

in the constitution, but it certain hi should be in the house rule. >> house rules get violated all of the time. >> i would be okay with that. i think if you want to be the president of the united states or senator or house member, then there's a responsibility over and above that of just operating yourself. >> right. >> you have to show that you have clarity. >> wouldn't it be nice to say show us your tax returns and medical records? almost standardized with those things? >> i think that would be reasonable, too, because if the voter is going to make a decision, we need to give her as much information as we possibly can. >> let's talk about the other craziness we may face this month. it seems like speaker mccarthy is trying to use dangle impeachment to stop a shutdown. you guys are saying what are you thinking? what is your reaction to what he's thinking? >> i will not go there. >> fair enough. he's got a difficult role to

play, and i accept that too. if you treat each of those separately, will there be a reasonable thing that maybe joe biden was involved or knew of hunter trading upon the family name for personal enrichment? that is something that people should know about. >> does that rise to the impeachment inquiry? impeachment inquiry or is that something that the -- >> i'm not an attorney and i'm not going to go there, and i don't know the results of congressman comer which i think he's doing a service to the country, a good service. i've not seen the documents that he wants, and i don't think he's seen them yet, so if you treat that separately, is there something was where hunter was trading up on his father's name or is his father enabling. on the other hand, do we need to pass a funding bill? absolutely. i don't know what the strategy is. >> to go back on the impeachment thing, what you just described, michael kinsley said, in washington, it's not what's illegal, it is what is legal that is sometimes a crime.

that stuff is perfectly legal. >> well, i'm told there's something of a foreign agent rule where somebody who is registered as a foreign agent is not being totally transparent in terms of how they're using this relationship. i'm also told it's difficult to enforce. again, i'm not an attorney. but there's something about the spirit and the letter of the law that i think the american people should know. >> do you think there should be some sort of ethics code for relatives? they ask about hunter biden. i ask about jared kushner. and i want to say yes. >> you can't deny somebody a right to earn a living and to steal the phrase of another they're not just a potted plant. my wife, for example, doesn't make money, and do we want to snuff that out and she's an incredibly capable person? >> it is something that many professional couples run into particularly in this town. let's talk about the future of the party. you have been adamant for the

last few years when asked the trump question, you say he's not going to be the nominee, he's not going to be the nominee. do you feel that comfortable now? >> i will say i've not been so adamant recently. i think he will be the nominee. is there a populist future to our country, to our party, to the republican party or nonpopulist. populism has a role, but now there is a populism that must come to the point where if you look at the poll of the american people most don't like it. >> you come from a state where populism led to corruption. you can go through the line. populism goes to corruption fast. >> think about the purpose of populism, when the elites come up with a policy set, which is separate and different from that where the people feels meet their needs, that has to be addressed, and so there's a role for that sensitivity of what the people want. i am totally in favor of that. what i don't like is when you

tell people just what they want to hear even if it's not true. >> right. >> you know i've been very focused on social security. >> i know you have. >> we have two candidates that are telling the american people that which they wish to hear, not which is true. because of that social security, if it goes insolvent as it's predicted to, will result in a 24% cut and benefits for those receiving. for a candidate to tell people there is no problem, that's populism gone awry. >> in february 2021, you decided donald trump was unfit to ever hold federal office again. your vote said that as much. you have answered this question very care fridayfully in the past, which is to saw you plan to support a republican. if he is the nominee, can you vote for him. i know where you are with biden. can you vote for trump?

>> you know, we're keeping our streak alive. every time we've met you've asked me about this. >> i understand. why is it difficult to answer? >> i will vote for a republican. i may have to write it in. >> what about the labels? you were showing up at their events and you said people have pointed out you were once a democrat, so in some ways you can perhaps be somebody they would look to to bridge the divide. is that something that would appeal to you? >> depending upon who the candidates were? we're looking at biden and trump and is that suddenly appealing? >> if they came and spoke to me, i would certainly speak to them back. >> are you already speaking with them? >> i am not. >> but is it something you'd be open to? >> put it this way, 70% of the american people want something different. plausibly we could have a setting where someone has been convicted and someone else shows signs of mental decline so significant 70% of the american people are already thinking these two. he is not being transparent as some are in terms of revealing the test. there is an actual need to know what's going on and we're not being told. with this, should there be another option for the american people? i think plausibly there should

be. >> senator bill cassidy, you lived up to exactly how i billed it, which is you're never afraid to answer a question even if i don't like it. >> thanks, chuck. >> thanks for coming on and sharing your perspective. >> when we come back, california governor gavin newsom and he offers his vision for how biden can win. >> i'm serious when i say this. a little less time on his age and whether or not he's going to run and a little more time on the damn record. a little more t the damn record. teeth sensitivity is so common. it immediately feels like

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welcome back. as democrats worry about the political strength of president biden speculation has been bubbling up that another democrat should run instead. i traveled to sacramento this week to talk to one of those democrats in waiting, the california governor gavin newsom. he is clearly positioning himself to run for president. it just may be in 2028 rather than in 2024. i began by asking governor newsom at the california governor mansion about biden and the future of the democratic party.

>> governor, thanks for doing this. >> good to be back. good to be with you. >> let me start, it was about a year ago where right after the dobbs decision you very publicly and i'll quote you, where is my party? where is the democratic party? we are a year later. do you still have that same sort of lack of focus and leadership? >> the opposite. i think we're on message and we're getting back on the offense. we're on our feet. i think demonstrably that proved itself and the basis of what happened in the midterms. we outperformed quiet expectations and certainly pawn didtry that was out there at the time. no, i think the party is in a much better place than it was back then, but i stand by what i said a year and a half ago, and out of stress and frustration, i expressed not only that point of view.

i tried to do something about it with the iteration of doing ads and other states and making a case. do you think things are better in your opinion because the party did something better or because the public is just pushing back on this abortion decision and that is motivating voters? >> the abortion division has been galvanized and it's demonstrably. you saw in ohio and what just happened and you have seen it play out in large and small venues including the wisconsin supreme court. it's played a role and we're getting our feet under us. i think we'll focus on democracy, on freedom and taking back the mantra of freedom and not submitting to the other side that they own patriotism, and the president's developing his message and strategy, and we have an opportunity in the next few months, absolutely. >> do you feel like you know what the second-term agenda is? >> i don't know about the second-term agenda because we're still regaling in the extraordinary success in the last few years of which we now get to apply the principles and advance a lot of what has been asserted, meaning make real the commitments we've made through these landmark legislative

packages, and beyond that, the fundamental messaging has improved. the organized framework that the ads -- that they've put out the last five ads i think have been spot on. now we've got to go out and campaign and you've got to see that in the next few months. why do you think only 24% of americans want to see biden run again? >> to me, the polls mean nothing until we get out there and make our case. we have to focus on the issues and framework of contract. >> you are well aware of how perception can become reality. >> i'll leave it to more objective minds and i don't have that point of view. i'm very inspired of the master class of the last two and a half years. i mean it, master class in terms of delivering results and the question you're asking is the challenging one. how do we mind the gap between performance, the substance and the results, and that perception before it becomes reality? clearly, it's reflected situationally in these polls, but that's the opportunity and not the burden. the opportunity of being able to

run on this record, the biden record, and to make the case to the american people over the next 18 months. >> do you think this is all just due to age? do you think people look at his age and think he's not vibrant? >> that wasn't even on our minds. >> not you, but -- >> i don't know what it is, all i know is we have the opportunity to sell remarkable accomplishments and we get an opportunity to see that we have in the past and we need to organize bottom up, not just top down and we can't rely on the president to make that case alone. the democratic party, to go back to your original question, the party needs to be more muscular in terms of how we approach our role in promoting that record. >> do you think another four years of donald trump will break us? >> i don't -- i hope we don't have to experience that, but i worry about democracy. i worry about the fetishness for autocracy that we're seeing not just from trump, but around the world and notably across this country. i've made the point about desantis.

i think he's functionally authoritarian. i'm worried more in many respects about trumpism and what transcends beyond his term and time and tenure. >> trump or desantis would be a greater threat to democracy? >> i'll leave that to more objective minds. >> i understand you say more objective minds. tell me what's in your mind. >> i think the vengeance in donald trump's heart right now is more of a threat. >> so another four years of that could -- >> yeah. >> it's not something to -- >> i'm not going to wallow in it. i'll work hard to get president biden re-elected and work hard to make the case for what he's done for this country. >> filing deadlines haven't passed. president biden doesn't run, why shouldn't we consider you? >> he is lined up and the deadlines are quickly coming to pass, and i think we need to move past this notion that president biden is not going to run. president biden is going to run

and looking forward to getting re-elected. there's been so much wallowing in the last few months and the disrespect and we're gearing up for the campaign and we're looking forward to it. >> you hear these calls privately. what do you tell these donors who rah wallowing in this? >> time to move on, let's go. i'll be at the dnc next week in chicago and i was down in san diego, let's go. let's make the case! let's make the case about the biden administration. >> what about there's no plan b for you? >> perhaps there's never been more consistent words that have come out of my mouth. >> i understand that, but something that has hit me for a while with you in particular, your political hero is bobby kennedy. >> yeah. >> what would bobby do? bobby ran. bobby ran. he did it. now, you could argue that he waited for somebody else that proved lbj was vulnerable. we can debate the particulars of when. if you're going to go bold,

sometimes you go when everybody tells you not to go. >> yeah, i haven't plotted this out. i'm not this machiavellian, and i've proven -- increasingly in public i want to continue to make that case and i don't want to go through talking points, but i'm serious on this. a little less time on his age and whether or not he's going to run and a little more time on the damn record. no wonder there's a gap between performance and perception. i think it's pretty obvious because we -- there are a differences of thoughts and whatever you focus on you find more of. the democratic party and the press and others are so focused situationally on his age, should he or should he not run on his record, and our job is to get out of that muck and to get back on our feet and make the case. >> am i supposed to interpret the comment about the vice president that if he chose not to run -- >> it's the biden and harris administration.

maybe i'm a little old-fashioned about presidents and vice presidents. i was a lieutenant governor, so i'm a little subjective. >> the senior senator here has her daughter apparently has power of attorney. she, as an elected official has power over attorney over 40 million people's representation in washington, dc, why should she still be serving as a senator? >> i'll leave it to her. i'm the more subjective human being in the world on this topic. i have no objectivity. i've known dianne feinstein since i was a kid and i interned with her in college, and i have a signed book from my days as mayor. >> like family. >> yeah. i'm the last person. >> it's sad to watch. >> this is somebody whose obituary just, legacy is -- i think people are going to forget because of what we're watching. >> i'll tell you, it wasn't that long ago when she would call me up and read me the riot act

related to for is station issues and what we're doing in the central valley with the drought, and her staff is still extraordinarily active, and we wish her only the best. her term expires and she's not running for re-election. so this time next year we'll be in a very different place. >> do you feel as if the staff is fulfilling and can do the duties? >> i don't think it, i know it. >> you don't feel like the state's losing out by not having more active voices. >> maybe missing town halls and the senator was just in the office a few days ago and we were comparing and contrasting, asking issues and advocacy and we're aligned with feinstein and her office. >> it sounds like you hope you don't want to make another appointment. >> no, i don't want to make another appointment and i don't think the people of california want me to make another appointment. >> you don't -- >> i don't think that's, you

know, in my job. it's my responsibility, and we'll have to do it if we have to do it. >> you will abide by your pledge? >> yeah. interim appointment, and i don't want to get involved in the primary. >> you don't want to appoint anybody. >> that primary is just a matter of month away and i don't want to tip the balance of that. >> but you would abide by essentially a caretaker, an african-american woman. >> we hope we never have to make this decision, but i abide by what i've said very publicly on a consistent basis, yes. >> your relationship with donald trump, you had one because of the unusual relationship between his son and your ex-wife. is that still a viable communication or not? >> no. i think it was less that and more just interpersonal relationship that came out of the time we spent together in paradise as he referred to it or pleasure, i think he referred to it during the fire. i find it in stark contrast that desantis was completely awol from spending any time with joe

biden, which just to me is political malpractice. if the democratic governor from the state of california can go out there to paradise and be out there with the president of the united states. >> do you have people -- >> that was wrong. talk about living together. we have a responsibility to one another to be mature. >> you will try to work with him? >> by definition, we work very closely together during covid for the betterment of the people of the state of k. >> even if our country can't handle it -- >> at the end of the day, these are the cards i was dealt. 40 million americans who live in california. many support him. i'm not going to oppose someone just to oppose him. i call balls and strikes and few people were more aggressive in calling balls and strikes against donald trump. i called california the most un-trump state in america and i hold to that. at the same time, we worked together in terms of emergency preparedness and issues related

to covid where trump himself led a lot of the decisions, his administration that you rightly and appropriately brought up. we took guidance from the federal government as it relates to that, but at the end of the day, i don't like the partisanship, and i thought it was demonstraby displayed by what i thought was a very weak exercise by governor desantis in florida recently. >> let me close with this. your relationship with the vice president. you guys have been -- you talked about your relationship with dianne feinstein. i assume san francisco politics is a close family. >> yep. describe your relationship with her. >> we knew each other before we were both in politics. i got sworn in as mayor, walked across the street. she got sworn in as district attorney. extremely close working relationship including her time in the senate. >> you can't imagine running against each other. >> of course not. by definition, it wouldn't happen.

we maintain a good relationship in our personal, how are you doing? checking in. it's been a challenging few years with covid, and we've had the opportunity to sit down, have lunch together in the white house. we've spent time talking about important things. >> nobody's upset -- she's not upset you're going to debate ron desantis? >> apparently someone in her office is because i read some off-the-record quotes. i wish i knew who that was, but i don't hear it from her, and i'm certainly not hearing it from the white house. >> is this debate happening? >> it might. i hope. we'll see. to be determined, figuring out the time and date. there was a venue issue. they wanted thousands of people to make it a performance. i wasn't interested in that. we were pretty clear on that. >> sean hannity is still moderating it? >> you're still okay? >> it's two against one. bring it on. >> there is a lot more to this interview. governor newsom and i talked about selling san francisco to a national audience and homelessness, and his relationship with robert f. kennedy jr. and from what he

learned about politics from reading the biographies of former governor ronald reagan. see the full interview. what is the democratic party's plan to address it? the panel is next.

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welcome back. the panel is here. some of my favorite panelists, amy walter, the editor in chief of the cooke political report. my partner for so long here at first read and then some, nbc political reporter murray. >> and he gave me my jackie robinson cuff lings and danielle pletka and our daughters went to prae school together, and that's how we got to know each other, and this is the reason the four of you are here together. let's talk about this age elephant in the room.

we put up the cnn poll and the head to head matchups here. we have ones where biden is trailing among all of the non-front-runners and he trails pence, scott and christie and haley by the most. against the most likely nominees, biden actually performs better. he's tied with desantis. he's actually down a point from biden and up a point on ramaswamy. cornell, you're the democrat here. you have to defend this. there looks bad. why shouldn't democrats be worried? with t he guy >> i've been here before, chuck. i worked for obama. if you go back to 2011, the headline his obama not only tied with the guy by the name of rick perry and ron paul. do you remember those? he was actually trailing by the name of mitt romney by -- by several points. the polling right now, don't pay attention to the polling right now. i think i would be more worried about mitt romney than trump. why is that? because mitt romney had a higher ceiling than donald trump. we've seen how donald trump

performs in two elections right now. i would argue that trump is at a ceiling, and president biden is close to the floor, but he has a good story to tell. he has a good story to tell about the economy and he has a story to tell about the legislation and talk to us about legislation that we on the obama campaign didn't have the legislation to dismiss talk about, and i don't want to dismiss polling completely. >> i'm not throwing it out completely. but it is really hard to know it's getting harder and harder to use the metrics we once used as we were all coming of age to decide whether or not a

candidate is vulnerable or whether it can be able to win. donald trump never hit 50% job approval rating as president of the united states. he came within 42,000 votes of winning the electoral college. in the last midterm, 40-year high inflation and any president who is deeply under water and democrats came within 6,000 votes of leaving the house. what i see and what cornell sees, too, we have a tied race, and this will be a tight race, no matter who the nominee is, and it will be a race no matter who votes. >> let's go to mark. 70% of the country doesn't want this, and this is what they'll get and politics supports a vacuum. something or someone will try to fill the vacuum. >> so we'll try to have that frame what this will play out exactly like 2020 if you have a joe biden versus donald trump matchup. people will say i voted in 2020 and i'm not going to vote at all and to me that's the big wild card in this race. two things about joe biden and the worries that the democrats can be true. yes, we have a long ways to go, more than a year. yes, joe biden has cleared the democratic field. people like gavin newsom.

and the democratic party is more unified than in 2015 and even 2019, but the other part is this campaign in 2024, donald trump or anyone else, will be a different campaign for joe biden to run. the coronavirus and covid probably has gone, at least we think so, and joe biden will no longer be the challenger, and he's the incumbent, and this will be a more vigorous campaign that he has to embark on, and i think that's what's really concerned the worries. >> i'm curious if you have the same feeling that i did. you have gavin newsom and cassidy and you think both parties want to have a real debate about something and you can feel it and here we are and cassidy essentially offered himself up as an alternative. i obviously coaxed him a little bit, but the point is that this is what i think is going to define this race for the next nine months, this sort of weird uncertainty about what are we going to do about an unpopular airing of candidates.

>> well, we've got a lot of shoes to drop. you describe what's going to happen when joe biden has to campaign and he can't hide in his basement anymore and what will happen if donald trump isn't out on super tuesday because he's on trial and all of those packers are right now just sort of forward looking. >> we are focused on, we don't know how the country's going to react? >> isn't it bizarre? >> oh, my god, i hate this so much, but secretly, i love it because they're voting for these people and we don't have an alternative to biden and we don't have a real serious alternative to trump. he's killing everybody else. so somebody's making these decisions. >> i want to go back in here on this point because here is the x factor because it can become 2016 again because we have so many people who say i will protest my vote and the lesser of two evils and that's how donald trump wins. he wins by subtraction. when you look inside the polling, and all of the votes who were once voting for gavin to 51%, they're now looking at

third parties, and i know focus groups work with third-party voters, and they don't know who the third-party candidates are. >> it doesn't mean they don't end up going into smaller, and my choices are small and large. is there a medium or anything else? >> did i just hear you say that you think donald trump can win the 2024? election against joe biden? >> 5% or 6% in those states that you're talking about. look at what happened in wisconsin in 2016. all of those obama voters voted third party and it was a slim victory for him. the only difference between biden was jones. >> one of the challenges for joe biden in 2024 is keeping the entire democratic coalition together, and it wasn't just independents, and it wasn't just young people and voters of color.

it was also disaffected republicans and people who voted for gary johnson or jill stein in 2016, and so the challenge that he has to do is replicate all of that and having a run. >> we tell stories this week. the biden coalition, particularly african-american men and hispanic men, they're not reliable democrats as much. >> listen, we'd be remiss chuck, i won't talk about that, but if we'd be remiss as a panel if we didn't say thank you if we didn't interrupt the program -- >> you saw the one-minute sign. >> i have to say, look, it's been a great conversation for almost a decade. >> it's going to continue. >> but thank you for giving me the opportunity for being a part of this conversation. >> it's been an honor, not just to get to know all of these wonderful people, but to be part of this community that is around you at nbc news. it really has. >> i can't believe i get to hang out with people like you and you. >> we've grown up together in politics. >> we did. >> i am so very proud of you. >> we've been shadowing each other forever.

>> we have. what i am most proceed of is you've kept your sense of optimism even though this is -- >> talk to me off camera. >> this is a tough job, and you have kept you're critical, but not cynical and i appreciate that. >> chuck, it's been a great ride. a lot of great stories to cover. a lot of ups and downs and a great ride to be with you. >> i'm going to see you at the miami/texas national title. >> speaking of politics. expanding beyond its region says about us headed as a country. "data download" is next.

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♪♪ welcome back. "data download" time. regional trends and viewpoints are increasingly being replaced by national ones. in the worlds of business, politics, and even college football. ad revenues and audience models are dramatically reshaping the world of college athletics and it is destroying what were once regional conferences, and in many ways, it's sort of a metaphor for how we've handled our politics these days. here was the big ten in 1984. nicely constructed agricultural, midwestern states and it goes coast to coast. here's the fcc, very concentrated here, all except for one state in kentucky and now they've gone west just like america in the 19th century. how about our friend in the big eight.

the big 12 used to be the big eight. it was concentrated in the plains and the midwest. what is it now? it's more of a southwestern conference, if you will. that also stretches to florida, west virginia and ohio, naturally. and then let's look at the acc, as you can see here, it truly was a mid-atlantic and southeast conference, tobacco road, basketball, you name it. what is it today? it is now the all-koeflt conference with the additions of stanford and cal. again, coast-to-coast, texas, the four largest states all represented in the acc and then, of course, there's the pac 12. welcome to east coast bias, right? in 1984 it was the western coast conference and now as you know, it has literally disappeared and that's what's happened to the regional differences. all politics is national, all college football is national,

and it makes you wonder if we lost something. decisions locally makes for better politics. it makes for better college conferences. when we come back, the new moderator of "meet the press" joins me as she gets ready for her sunday routine. ? no, i think i'm late on my car insurance. good thing the general gives you a break when you need it. yeah, with flexible payment options to keep you covered. just tag us in. like right now?! oh...i was talking about insurance. ouaaaahhhh! [bell dings] for a great low rate, go with the general.

wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. ouaaaahhhh! [bell dings] it's to die for. and it's all right here. streaming was never this easy, you know. this is the way. you really went all out didn't you? um, it's called commitment. could you turn down the volume? here, you can try. get way more into what your into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. every day, businesses everywhere are asking: is it possible? with comcast business... it is. is it possible to use predictive monitoring to address operations issues? we can help with that. can we provide health care virtually anywhere? we can help with that, too. is it possible to survey foot traffic across all of our locations? yeah! absolutely.

with the advanced connectivity and intelligence of global secure networking from comcast business. it's not just possible. it's happening. welcome back. the last nine years as moderator of the longest running show on television has been the honor of my professional life, and as i prepare to pass the baton to the next custodian, it is a privilege to pass it to someone who needs no introduction. >> is the united states spying on its european allies? >> how do you win this time? >> are you giving russian president vladimir putin the upper hand heading into your talks? >> did you direct mike flynn to discuss sanctions with the russian president? >> no, i didn't. >> no, i didn't. >> prior to your inaub racing? >> no, i didn't. >> is abuse of power an impeachable defense. >> i'm kristen welker of nbc

news, and i welcome you to the final 2020 presidential debate. >> vice president biden there have been questions about the work your son has done in china when you were vice president, in retrospect were any of those relationships inappropriate our unethical? >> nothing was unethical. >> why haven't you been able to get them the help they need? 30 seconds here. >> because nancy pelosi doesn't want to approve it. i do. >> you're the president. don't you need to work across the aisle with the republican-led house? >> is that your signature? >> it doesn't. >> it doesn't matter whether that's my signature or not? do you know how many i've written? yes, that's my check. >> does the president need to take the reins tomorrow when i ask him? >> well, kristen welker joins me now in her last appearance as a guest on "meet the press." are you ready? >> i am ready, chuck, and i just want to say i am also so thankful and grateful to you for

this moment for entrusting me with this monumental, important role. i take this responsibility so seriously. i'm ready because you have helped me get ready, chuck. you are someone who invests in the people that you care about and you have invested in me, and i'm just so eternally grateful for that. i've said it before, i think it bears repeating. you brought me to dc, and you taught me just about everything i know, and i say that a lot, and to give folks a sense, and one of the things that sticks in my mind, you were at a news conference in 2013, former president obama and netanyahu and we were in jerusalem and you asked more questions than any other reporter and it was a message to me that you have to have the courage, you have to have the confidence to ask the tough questions and to ask as many questions as need to be asked. >> it's not popular.

>> it's not a popularity contest. i remember thinking to myself in that moment, you have to get in there, kristen. the best part about all of this, you're not going anywhere and you will be on speed dial for me. >> you push yourself hard and out prepare so many people. tell me this, i had my own thing that i wanted to bring more data to what we did and all of this stuff. what's something you want to bring that you think will be unique to you -- to your tenure as moderator? >> well i want to approach this as a reporter. that's who i am. that's who i've always been. i've covered three administrations now, the obama administration, the trump administration, the biden administration. i've traveled all over the world with all of these presidents, and i really want to bring that to the show every sunday to make sure that we are giving our viewers the information that they need, and now my beat, by the way, is all of washington, the campaign trail, and,

frankly, the world, and i want to be asking those tough questions, and i want to be making you proud. >> you will. >> i want to be building on the legacy of this show. >> what are your thoughts about breaking the polarization and breaking this habit where they don't want to answer any questions to people they think aren't going to ask friendly questions? >> well, look, this is something you and i have talked about a lot when you and i have sat at the desk together anchoring on election nights and we are election nights. we are living in a world in which we are deeply divided as a country, and so my thoughts are i need to be keeping my finger on the pulse of what matters to the voters. i'm going to be out on the trail. i'm going to be bringing their questions here to the moderator's desk, and you've always said this. the role of the moderator is to bring washington to the rest of america and vice versa. it's a huge responsibility and one that i take very seriously. >> there's a lot of great imitators to what we do, but there's only one "meet the press." now here's my baton, and part of

this is i want to get rid of this, but it's sort of my old reliable. i do not -- i have had alarms not go off with this modern thing, mr. jobs, and mr. cook. this thing, with its battery backup i highly recommend. it does a funny thing. you plug it into a wall, it keeps power and when the power goes out, it has a battery backup. it has never failed me. my real trick is to set it 40 minutes early and you will never sleep. here's my promise to you, you will never sleep on saturday. >> that is for sure. this is timeless, you are timeless, so is this show. thank you very much. i am very honored and you left very big shoes to feel and i just want to make you proud. >> they are -- it is again, there is a reason we've all used the word custodian and the previous moderators. again, you're the moderator of the longest running show on television. you don't want to be the last

moderator and hand it over. when you hand it over, i'm sure it will be in a better place than you have it today. >> i hope so. i'll work hard to do that. i promise you that every sunday. >> kristen, thank you. >> thanks, chuck. >> on my first day on the job at "meet the press" i was handed an audience show survey of sunday show viewers and the number one reason folks said they tuned in was not who the person was behind the chair or the guest. it was simply to get educated. so for nearly a decade i've had the honor of helping to explain washington to america and america to washington as kristen just quoted me about, and it's that education piece that i'm hanging my hat on for the rest of my professional life. one thing we lament lately is the lack of knowledge and nuance in politics and citizenship and that's a vacuum i hope to continue to fill whether on our continued coverage on nbc or docuseries or docudramas and focused on bridging our divides, piercing these political bubbles, and i'll continue to be a part of nbc's political coverage. as tom brokaw said to me, some networks do some things well and no one does politics like nbc and he was referring back to

david brinkley and that's the tradition from brinkley to russert and that's the stuff i want to carry on. that's the stuff kristen's going to carry on. i also could not have done this job for the last nine years without the team that you don't see on television, the producers, the control room, the crew, the editors, the artists that make this show look like an incredible production every week. i get up early. they get up earlier. television is a team sport and i'm proud to be a member of this team and stay a member of this team even as a spectator, cheerleader, and an adviser. so that's all for today. thanks for watching and for so many years of loyalty to me and to this show. i'm happy to say my colleague kristen is going to be here next week. it doesn't matter who sits in this chair. if it's sunday, it's "meet the press."

september 11th, a day the nation will never forget. in a few hours, america will mark 22 years since the deadly terror attack, and we'll do so from ground zero to alaska. plus, rescuers in morocco racing to find survivors after a powerful earthquake killed more than 2,000 people. the death toll expected to climb as residents face widespread blackouts and low food supplies. what the international community is doing to offer support.